v4c35: The Grass Sea Castle Crashers

“Rou Tigu pays her respects to the Tie family!” Tie Delan heard the girl continue, bowing politely. He spared the short woman a brief glance, noting the bracers on her arms, carved by his son. He had not met the target of his son’s affections before, even as he heard his boy wax poetic about her and her powerful master: He and his wife had been consumed with subduing a Frost Wolf during the Dueling Peaks Tournament, the Profound Level Spirit Beast having fallen from the Howling Fang Mountains. Even injured and driven mad, it had been a true battle—but now was not the time to reminisce. His son was here, and Delan had eyes only for him.

 

“Father. Mother,” Delun greeted them, just ever so slightly awkwardly. It was to be expected! He had marched in here for some reason, only to have his parents bar his path! Delan would have been similarly confused. “I apologize for meeting you in such circumstances.”

 

It had been only three months since he had seen his boy, but Heavens, he had grown. His back was straighter. His eyes were pure and focused. He looked like a rock, upon which the world could break itself before it was broken.

 

Profound Realm. His son had been gone only a few months and had ascended to the Profound Realm. His cultivation had changed, realigning itself to earth rather than purely metal, but at his core, his cultivation was still the teachings of their Sect. Though… both Tigu and his son were wearing matching uniforms—a blue Gi with the character for Azure on the back.

 

His armor had mixed in stone as well, and upon that stone were some of the oldest protective and strengthening formations they had—most of which were bare imprints on ancient tablets back at their Sect, barely decipherable, but these looked completely whole, compared to the fragments they normally worked with.

 

He wanted nothing more than to rush forwards and embrace his boy. To praise him, berate him for his recklessness, then demand that he explain himself. He could feel his wife restaining herself from doing the same—but there were other issues.

 

“Master Tie! Please, see these ruffians out immediately!” the noble squealed from behind several of his servants. “You bastards, daring to invade my home! Begone!” The man was smart enough to arm the burly servants with metal shields, but he was still dumb enough to have come out here in the first place.

 

Delan straightened himself up. Rou Tigu’s eyes turned into yellow slits as her attention swapped to the nobleman, while his son frowned slightly. Something was certainly afoot here, and Delan would have it out in the open.

 

“What is going on here? Why did you barge into this man’s manor, boy?” he asked, his voice cold and hard.

 

Rou Tigu, a scroll still in her hand and stamped with an official-looking seal, raised it up. “Shen Yongzheng has been implicated in the falsifying of official documents and the enslavement of imperial subjects. He is to be taken into custody, along with all of his servants, and his property seized.”

 

Her words were that of an executioner’s blade. Delan paused. That scroll looked official. His son, standing beside the young woman, nodded. His face was grim. Delan wondered how he had gotten involved in this mess, but held his tongue.

 

Delan turned to the noble, who had gone pale. Sweat beaded on his forehead. “B-b-baseless! Utterly baseless accusations!” he managed to spit out. “Master Delan, please! We can surely come to an agreement!”

 

The man was most certainly guilty, if he was insinuating what Delan thought he was.

 

“We are servants of the Emperor. How could we disobey a lawful order from one of his agents?” Delan asked.

 

The noble, if possible, paled further.

 

“Hold them off!” the little worm demanded in a shrill voice before he turned to run.

 

Between one instant and the next Tigu was gone, and then she had the noble in her grasp. An ethereal tiger formed around her, snarling like a beast from the hells. Delan struggled to follow her movement and swallowed. It hadn’t even been a year since she was at the Fifth Stage of the Initiate’s Realm, according to what people had said of the tournament. And now she was superior to Delan, even though he was in the Second Stage of the Profound Realm.

 

What an utterly monstrous, heavens defying talent.

 

“You’re going to show us where everything is. Every letter, every document, every hidden room,” she whispered. The man relieved himself—but such was the control over Tigu’s intent that every time he tried to pass out from terror he felt her Qi prod just so, keeping the man conscious.

 

The guards of the manor dropped their weapons immediately.

 

The noble nodded rapidly. Satisfied, Tigu turned back to the gates. “Bring ‘em in, boys!” she called out.

 

“Yes, Big Sis!” a bunch of rough voices replied as men and women dressed in ragged slum clothes came in, pushing carts with cages on top. All of them had an armband of blue cloth. “We’ve got the exits covered, Big Sis, just like you said! None of these bastards are gettin’ away!”

 

Those at the front of the manor were quickly corralled under Tigu’s watchful eyes.

 

“It’s true, is it?” Delan asked his son.

 

“Yes. I saw it with my own eyes… and we decided to do something about it.” Delun looked at them both. “We were originally going to look for you first and explain everything… But we ended up having to move a bit faster than we were expecting. It’s a vast conspiracy.”

 

“I see,” Liqui said, her face blank, before she gained a little smirk. “And then you can introduce us properly to Tigu!”

 

Delun, instead of flushing like he had for the first couple of months, smiled. “You’ll like her,” he stated simply.

 

My, his son truly had grown! He shared a glance with his wife, whose appraising eye was now on Rou Tigu.

 

“We’re searching the manor from top to bottom! Put everybody into custody! But if I hear a word about bad behavior…” Tigu shouted down at the mortals who would be supporting them.

 

The rough slum dwellers nodded. “Don’t worry, Big Sis! Brother Dong Chou already ‘splained everythin to us!”

 

Tigu nodded, then turned to Delan again and bowed.

 

“Would you join us please?” Tigu asked politely. For such a rough looking girl, she was certainly personable.

 

“Yes. I would see what manner of villainy this man has engaged in,” Delan declared.

 

The noble, still awake, shivered in his sodden robes.

 

Bastard. Make Delan wait? Force him into an uncomfortable chair? Oh, this would be rather fun.

 

They marched into the manor unimpeded. Every servant and guard immediately went to their knees before the combined intent of four cultivators in the Profound Realm. Delan and his wife were content to let their son and Tigu take the lead—the younger generation needed to spread their wings, and really, a few mortals being caught up in something was technically beneath their notice.

 

First, they went into the man’s office, ransacking every hidden drawer and sealed compartment. The noble was looking more and more like he wanted to bite off his tongue and just commit suicide, but his own cowardice stayed his hand.

 

One of the drawers burst into flame as Tigu opened it, but it was insufficient to stop Tigu’s sheer speed from rescuing whatever they were supposed to destroy.

 

She smiled as it unveiled more names and locations. Blackmail, apparently, for whatever cabal was operating here.

 

“Now… where are they being kept?” Tigu asked the noble, her eyes like daggers.

 

“B—basement,” the man squeaked.

 

And thus, the basement was their next destination. It was a surprisingly far walk—and Tigu began to tense up the further they got down the stone stairs. A deep, snarling growl began to issue forth from her throat as they approached the stone door.

 

Tigu looked like she was going to rend it from its hinges, but Delun beat her to it. With a single tap of his hand the stone simply ceased to be, ripping open a hole in the wall without any disturbance risking a collapse.

 

Then the smell hit their noses.

 

Delan, who had been amused at the rather thorough dismantling of the noble, felt that amusement fade.

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His wife tensed, and her bloodlust began to leak out. Her pretty dress with its long sleeves began to rip at the seams as her muscles bulged.

 

He stared at the cages, where several young women—no, several girls and young boys were being held. Their eyes were wide and terrified.

 

Delan had seen things he would have rather not seen again in his lifetime. Blood and death that haunted his dreams, and were only kept at bay by the sparkling lights of the forge, or his wife’s fingers through his hair.

 

This was not the worst of the world… But it was certainly enough to make his blood start to move like molten metal through his veins.

 

“Don’t worry,” Tigu said, her voice kind, gentle, and almost motherly as she addressed those imprisoned. “You’re safe now. Big Sis Tigu and Big Bro Delun will have you out.”

 

The tiger gave way to a kitten. Bright, playful, and comforting. The mortals, terrified out of their wits, calmed.

 

The mortal children began to sob.

 

“Son. You said this was a vast conspiracy,” Delan said, his voice as calm as he could make it as he strode forwards to aid in releasing the children along with Liqui.

 

“Yes. We have to hit thirteen more manors—and then ten times that many mines, farms, foundries, mills,” his son reported. “In addition to many places outside the city’s immediate area.”

 

“Then… you shall have our support. Do you need us to smooth things out with the palace? You are assaulting Suzeng’s supporters,” he said, referring to the Lord Magistrate of the city.

 

“Xiulan is handling that,” his son replied, before turning and standing up to look Delan in his eyes. “Father… thank you.”

 

He filed away the fact that his son was on first-name basis with Cai Xiulan away and nodded firmly. “There is nothing to thank, my son. The wicked deserve their rewards, no?”

 

Delun smiled and bowed his head. “I can’t wait to tell you everything.”

 

The Sectmaster of the Hermetic Iron Sect nodded, pride filling his heart… and then he went to aid the others in setting the young ones free.

 

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They exited back out into the sunlight with the children—though it was less calm than when they had entered.

 

There were shouts, screams, and the shudder of Qi coming from other parts of the city.

 

“Looks like it’s not going as cleanly as we hoped,” Delun said, his voice tight.

 

“They’ll win,” Tigu replied, her voice utterly confident.

 

“We have to hit the next place before they figure things out.”

 

Tigu raised an eyebrow at Delan’s son. “It will surely be a busy day, Handsome Man. Are you up for it?”

 

The Young Master of the Hermetic Iron Sect snorted. “Of course.”

 

Tigu’s smile was as bright as the sun.

 

Delan realized instantly why his son had fallen for her.

 

They forged ahead, their eyes burning with conviction.

 

Delan and his wife followed in their wake.

 

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“Come on!” Yin roared as she surged towards her opponent, an old-looking man clad in black robes.